Empty Folders With Vanishing Files Mostly Documents
Jun 9, 2014
Over the years I've tried to save all my documents. This means that they have been copied from folder to folder and computer to computer (whatever was before Windows 95) probably mostly through external storage. However, some of these were saved directly to the 2nd internal hard drive D: of Windows 8 may be included, but I'm not certain.
I believe all of the folders are present, most of which are identified by date. However, many of the folders are completely empty. I cannot see a pattern as to which folders. This seems to involve mostly older folders, (and this may mean that it is more likely that they have been through a USB device) but not all of the older folders are empty. More recent ones are also empty. Otherwise, I cannot identify any specific documents, only that large numbers of folders are empty.
I have an external hard and the folders in it are shown empty while they are full, but the folder inside them are shown correctly. I attached 2 images :
Is it possible that virus cause this problem? It's actually impossible cause I have KIS2013 and it is updated.
since installing I now have a notification in the systray saying that " Files are up to date, last updated xxx minutes ago When I click on that notification icon, it takes me to a Sky drive folder, and within it is a documents, favorites, public, and shared favorites folders. When I double click those folders, there are no files within them.I do not have Skydrive set to upload, or sync, any files. So then should I be getting these notifications? Why would it show updating empty folders when Sky drive is not enabled? Is there a setting somewhere I should change.
I'm getting this problem since like 2 days ago. I'm trying to open my Music folder on my desktop or my whole D drive (with tons of items on it like game installations, music, pictures etc.) but the window that opens is empty and writes in it "This folder is empty". The address bar keeps loading and if I leave it loading (green bar filling), it stops right before the end and the window freezes. When I then click on the window a few times, the whole explorer.exe crashes and restarts, closing the window...
I can't acces the documents on my D drive. When I search for anything on the drive, it finds it and I can use it (pictures open, songs play). So the files are actually there but just aren't loading. I've made sure that the files are not hidden and I've already scanned for malware.
I recently tried to install Ubuntu 12.10, and lost access to Windows 7 and 8.1, after a LOT of looking for bootable disks and stuff, I did fix it.
After recovering the operating systems (I had to delete Ubuntu partitions and then fix the Windows 7 bootloader, because there was 6 primary partitions), the Windows 8.1 partition says its 10.0GB and empty, but when I double click on it, you can see the files inside.
This is bad, because when I try to boot in Windows 8, it gets to the login screen after a long boot time, then it just shows the time, battery, and internet status, and the rest is a blue screen, implying its broken. I found out this is because some OS files are missing, which might be related to the above paragraph. I have lots of paid software in Windows 8, and it was LOTS of downloading, so I dont want to wipe the drive, or have to touch the data, only be able to boot into Windows 8 again.
When I open in a partition viewer, it shows the 70GB partition as it should, and also
I keep finding files with names such as 3977C900 or similar on my system. The file type is called "File" and contains 0 kb. Why these are being created and how I can stop it ?
I can seem to delete or empty the file of my deleted or junk emails. I can individually do them by clicking the trash button, but then they go to the trash and I can empty that unless I go through each one. I don't have time to do this on 50-100 emails a day! I can empty through outlook but they are still in my windows 8 mail!
Started a new account, with admin privileges. Deleted old account also with admin privileges. Selected the "KEEP FILES" option. Deleted account. A folder pops up in desktop, with the computer's name. Under that folder there was another folder with old user name, and under that folder there was yet another folder also with old user name. Completely empty.
Desktop>[COMPUTERNAME][USERNAME][USERNAME]Empty
I don't have a restore point to which to retrieve my files. The c: disk says there is 600GBs of free space, previously I had only 300. All the library from my old user account have been wiped. I also checked Recycle Bin which is empty. The current account has admin privileges and is set to show hidden files. I was told that it might be under c:Users. I checked that with CMD and two folders were titled "." and "..", they don't show under file explorer.
I am running Recuva right now, but from what I understand that won't be able to restore file names and fragmented files, which are both critical. I also had an encrypted file with a none standard extension which might be ignored by Recuva.
I have some files and shortcuts on my desktop, and I am trying to move them into my documents. When I refresh my documents they just disappear and they do not reappear in documents or the desktop. Only when I restart or log out do they reappear on the desktop. Whats causing this?
I have had this happen once before, I am running Windows 8 on an OCZ Vertex 4 SSD.The problem is that suddenly all my files inside all the directories and sub directories in my Documents folder have been moved to the root of Documents and have all been named with their original directory location in the filename. To give a clear example: a file originally located in Rockstar GamesL.A. Noiresettings.ini is now in my root Documents folder under the name Rockstar Games_L.A. Noire_settings.ini
All of the folders and sub-folders in my Documents are empty and all of the files are in Documents with those names. They all follow the pattern of having the directory in the filename separated by underscores . I have over 11K files now sitting in my Documents and all my programs that require files in my Documents folder are now broken.
Is It possible to pin actual saved files to the Start Menu like Word documents and Excel spreadsheets (or anything else for that matter) as well as programs. I use this on my Windows 8 at work.
For example my Microsoft Excel file shortcut will be like follows:
I usually set the Start In to the MS Office Folder or the File location folder, it doesn't seem to affect it either way. I created a folder in my username called Shortcuts and put all of them in there. Because Windows sees this as an executable program it will allow you to right click it and to pin it to the Start Menu even though it actually starts the saved file you need. I use this for my Access database files too. As long as you set the correct path to the file name, it works every time. You can name the shortcut whatever name you need as well.
Anyway, I thought I'd share it since it makes a great time saver being able to launch your most frequently used files straight from the Start Menu in Windows 8 rather than having to launch the program and then trying to open the saved file.
I have been using a PC for over ten years and, at best, I am still a novice! I am experiencing a lot of issues I had overcome with Win7. I will address thes one at a time. In the past when I was looking for a folder or file I pressed START and keyed in what I was looking, a name or unique words. How do I do that using Windows 8.1?
I've found a way to pin any FILE or any FOLDER to the Taskbar (as well as to the Start Screen) with no registry editing, no software, no scripts, or anything.
Just create a shortcut that leads to the file or folder, NOT directly, but indirectly by way of File Explorer -- which is a program and can be pinned anywhere. Taskbar - Pin or Unpin a Folder - Windows 7 Forums
Then give the shortcut a name, which may be the same as the file's name.
The shortcut will have a File Explorer icon, but you can right-click it, select "Properties" and change the icon (recommended -- if you put several of them on your taskbar, you won't want them all to look the same.)
Then right-click it again and select "Pin to Start" or "Pin to Taskbar." Afterwards you can delete it from the Desktop.
This works with .txt (Notepad) files too. And with folders. If you have Adobe Reader, it works with .pdf files.
It also works with shortcuts to CLSID's (see Brink's tutorial on "Shell Commands"), such as
I have a folder on my computer that has many files as well as many folders in it. I want to alphabetize all of the items within this folder but the best I can do is have it show me all the folders in alphabetical order and then all the files will begin and be shown in alphabetical order. What I am looking for is to have all the files and folders intertwined in alphabetical order and not folders and then files.
Ok maybe and it is not a terrible bug but when i try to delete any files from folders the files delete.
But when click on referesh from desktop context menu the files i have deleted show up again when i try to delete them again the files delete again and after 3 or 5 min the files are gone which i have deleted.
Cant access to see hidden files and folders. I would suspect a virus, but iam not sure that's even possible. I got Malwarebytes, Super Anti Spyware and Malwarebytes Anti Root Kit, all show 100% clean. I need to see these files?
Something is causing all My Documents files and folders to show up on my Desktop (along with what is normally there).They are not shortcuts.Properties show that they are actually located in My Desktop folder, but in My Documents, where they belong.
How I got to this state:
When I originally installed Win8Pro, I used sysprep to move Users to D drive, at OOBE.
I tried to reverse this, so I could upgrade to 8.1, but sysprep fails to get me to audit mode.
So I booted into Safe Mode with a new temp admin acct, and copied users back to C drive.
Then I used regedit to point all the profiles back to C drive.
Rebooted. Logged into my main account.
I then used Properties on all my Profile movable folders to move that content back to D.
All well and good until my Desktop fills up with files and folders, that aren't really supposed to display there.
They work the same and point to the same files if I access them normally through my account icon.
I've been looking for copy errors, haven't found anything yet.
I am trying to organize the files on my system, and am consistently butting heads against this problem. It always seems to be the last file I highlight. In other words.. I have two directories open on the screen, and am simply looking to drag files/folders from one directory to another. To do this, you almost always have to highlight the folder you want to move, and doing this seems to put a lock on that folder. If I highlight more folders, it seems to be ok, except for the last one I highlight will always fail to copy.
Any way to prevent windows from locking files in this way?
I want to automate one process that I do from time to time. I have many folders, sometimes like 90 folders and I want to move them all into a single folder, the filenames are the same so they overwrite. I can overwrite them, in fact, I should, I just want to move all files from many folders into one folder, not doing it manually. Is there a command in CMD that can do that? E.g I have FolderSubfolder 1... Subfolder 90 so in 1 folder I have the subfolders then I have RootFolder where I want all to be and overwritten, MOVED not copied
I am running Windows 8 64-Bit on a new Advent Monza T100 laptop.
I am unable to make changes to Program Files (x86) which is very annoying as this means I have to install programs to my desktop.
When I try to move something into Program Files (x86) I am greeted by the usual 'You need permission to perform this action' message.
I have tried to Take Ownership of the folder using advice from many different forums, however my problem seems to be unique because I am not able to change the ownership from TrustedInstaller to Administrators.
When I click 'Change' the window transforms into this...
I have recently undertaken to get my pictures folder all sorted out and I have got a couple of thousand pictures there. I have been trying to make individual folders within my folder in categories so that I can sort things.
The problem is that in each of these folders I have to keep clicking on "View" and then "Extra Large" over and over again. Isn't it supposed to stay like I put it without me having to re-tell it over and over? It keeps going back to the default size of the pictures.
tiring to have to keep on re-setting the picture sizes for the hundredth time.
I much prefer the "list view" in my folders but I don't see way to add "columns" to list view. The only folder view showing these sort tabs is "details" view. Can anything be done about this?
I would like to basically do this to my Windows 8: Add Scan With Windows Defender To Windows 8 Context Menu as I feel it's a feature that is missing from Windows Defender when they had it in MSE in Windows 7. I've tried doing that but it doesn't seem to work so I am guessing it doesn't work on the latest version/build of 8. How to get it to work?
When my friend plugs in his iPhone wanting to download photos from it to the computer, a full screen Metro app opens, which I believe is the Photo app. But it just says Apple iPhone in big letters, and below that "There are no files or folders in this view". There are definitely pictures on the phone, and I had him take a few new ones just to be sure. In Autoplay, iPhone default action is "Import photos and videos (Photo)" so I am assuming this is the Photo app. I ran sfc /scannow, which found no problems, and DISM which said it fixed some corruption, and rebooted. But the issue remains.
I was trying to locate some files in my user folders in Windows 8 I was looking for the app data files to restore my email from an old version to a new clean install of the client. I could not find the folder although I knew it existed as this is where the app is storing my email, so I figured it was hidden. I started to look for the setting I knew in 7 that would allow you to see hidden files when you ran the folder properties. The only thing I saw anywhere about hidden files was on the first page of the properties where it says read only and hidden so I checked the box and told it to apply. (I know, stupid thing to do since I did not understand what it was doing. This is so unlike me) Now I do not have any user folders and not much works. How can I restore my user files?
